An innovative experimental system to test response time and reliability of neonatal flow-triggered ventilators

Response time and trigger sensitivity of flow-triggered ventilators are fundamental parameters to objectively evaluate these risk electromedical devices or to test their working efficiency. In order to measure the previously indicated fundamental parameters, an innovative experimental setup is proposed. To trigger the tested machine, a specific neonatal patient simulator system capable of moving known air volumes in the field from -1 to 1 ml. according to a chosen temporal function, has been realized and calibrated. An automatic measuring system controlled by an AT PC via IEEE-488 and allowing 10 kHz sampling frequency has been adopted to measure flow and trigger signals directly picked up from the examined ventilator. Two different flow triggered neonatal ventilators are tested in order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method and results are reported.